Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-01-20
THE Ca -dALs, Of MARS.
e .RElbS DISCOVERY CON-
fsHr ED BY OTHERS.

SupPcss Artificial Water Courses Dis
COW red In Mars by the Director of the
y.ilan of q
Startling Character.
The discovery of a network of so-called
canals upon the planet Mars by Schiapareli
several years ago has been confirmed this
year by observers both in England and Italy.
In 1877, Mars, being on the same side Of the
sun as the earth was, and in that part of its
orbit which brought it unusually close TO the
earth, shone with great splendor In the mid
night sky. 1t was under these favorable cir
cumstances that Professor Hall, with the
huge telescope that had just been set up at
Washington caught sight Of two small moons
revolving close around Mars, and moving so
swiftly that they might almost be compared
to little golden shuttles playing back and
forth on either side of the ruddy planets
disk The fame of this discovery was so
great, and the delight of the astronomers,
who found here a new and totally unex-
pected test of the laws of planetary motion,
so unbounded, that another discovery, made
at the same time, received comparatively lit
tie attention. This other discovery, was the
work of the keen eyed director of the Milan
observatory, NJ. Schiaparelh. He found
that the equatorial regions of Mars were in
tersected by long narrow lines which resem-
bled in color those spots that are believed to
be seas, and which began and ended in these
Martian seas, thus indicating close connec-
tion between them.
The shape of the supposed water courses
suggested the name canals" which was ap-
81 </1% of
ton argued that they really were canals con-
structed by the supposititious inhabitants of
Mars; and to the objection that the canals
were too large to admit of the Supposition that
they could be artificial works-some being
sixty miles or more broad-they replied that
since the force Of gravity upon Mars is very
much less than upon the earth, the inhabit-
ants Of that planet might attain proper
tionately greater st&Sure and muscular
power and agility that would enable them to
undertake works utterly beyond the capacity
of terrestrial men, This sort of speculation
tended to bring Schiaparelli's really brilliant
discovery into derision, particularly among
those whose telescopes did not reveal the
phenomena he had detected But Schiapareh
insisted that he had seen what he had seen.
and his discovery was defended by his well
established reputation as an observer.
In 1879, Mars being once more favorab4y
situated, he saw his canals again, and dis.
covered a number of new ones, and in the
fall and winter of 1882 he repeated his OBJ
servations On these last two occasions he
made still more surprising discovery,
namely, that the canals, or many Of them,
were double. Right alongside those which he
had seen before, and following the same sin
uosities he detected new canals. He made
map of Mars on Mercators projection, and in
this map the whole surface of the planet, ex-
cept in the polar regions, is seen covered with
a network Of dark stripes running in pairs,
intersecting the continents in every direcllon
and invariably ending in the surrounding
seas
The manner in which the doubling of the
canals was effected was not the least aston
ishing part of the discovery. They were not
all seen double at once. Schiapareli himself
suggested that the phenomenon depended in
some way upon the seasons of the planet.
One after another the canals would double
up. No less than seventeen successively ex-
hibited this appearance in the course of
single month. The new canal would appear
at first as a faint streak, barely discernible
alongside the old one. It would then rapidly
become darker and palmer, until in the
course Of few days it was as broad and dis
tinct as the original canal
This strange doubling of the so-called
canals made the whole phenomenon appear
to those who were originally inclined to
doubt its reality as the result of mere imagi-
nation or self-deception on the part Of the OBJ
server. Schiaparelh himself relates that he
was so astounded by what he saw that at
first he thought he must be the victim of an
"illusion, caused by fatigue of the eye and
some new kind of strabisnus." But he con-
WINGED himself by the most paiDstaking OBJ
servations that there was no deception about
his discovery. "As things stand, " he said, 1it
would be premature to put forth conjectures
about the nature of these canals As to their
existence, 1 need not say that 1 have taken
every necessary precaution to avoid even the
suspicion of illusion, and I am absolutely
certain of what have seem"
Yet, notwithstanding NJ. SchiapareIli's Ms
surance that the world of Mars really
possesses these curious markings, the fact has
hitherto rested principally upon his observa-
tions alone. To be sure, few,of his canals
had been detected several years before his
original observation, notably by Dawes, but
uODOuy ueSlueS HcHldpdrelu ndO DenelQ Gne
phenomenon ON any such scale as was exhib-
tied in his map. But now confirmation of
his discoveries comes from two most trust
worthy sources. During the opposition Of
Mars this year Mr.. Denning, Of Bristol, and
MN. Thollon and Perrotin, of Nice, under
took careful telescope studies of the planets
surface. Mr.. Denning was able to detect the
existence of Schiaparelli's canals, although
they were very faint lines as he saw them,
and he did not perceive them double Never
theless, he saw enough to convince him that
there was no deception in the Italian astron-
omer's observations.
MN. Perrotin and Thollon, in the purer
skies of Nice, were able to accomplish much
more They plainly saw the double canals of
Schiaparelli, and also detected the curious
and rapid changes in the appearance of these
objects that so astonished their original dis
coverer. SchiapareIh himself at about the
same time rediscovered the double canals
New York Sun.